The incident kept Wehrlein out of the opening two round of the 2017 F1 season and he was replaced by Antonio Giovinazzi at Sauber.

At the time, fans weren’t aware of Wehrlein’s neck injury and were told that he was simply sitting out the races due to “fitness issues.” Ahead of his return at last weekend’s Bahrain GP, Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff revealed to the press the full extent of Wehrlein’s injuries.

Wehrlein qualified 13th and finished 11th in Bahrain, the best qualifying and race results respectively for a Sauber F1 driver this year.